s characteristic
that he did not leave the army until his services were no longer needed.
At the age of thirty-one he was fortunate enough to be freed from
fighting against his own countrymen. In 1598 was signed the Peace of
Vervins by which the enemies of Henry IV, both Leaguers and Spaniards,
acknowledged their defeat. To France the close of fratricidal strife
came as a happy release. To Champlain it meant also the dawn of a
career. Hastening to the coast, he began the long series of voyages
which was to occupy the remainder of his life. Indeed, the sea and what
lay beyond it were henceforth to be his life.

The sea, however, did not at once lead Champlain to New France.
Provencal, his uncle, held high employment in the Spanish fleet, and
through his assistance Champlain embarked at Blavet in Brittany for
Cadiz, convoying Spanish soldiers who had served with the League in
France. After three months at Seville he secured a Spanish commission as
captain of a ship sailing for the West Indies. Under this appointment
it was his duty to attend Don Francisco Colombo, who with an armada of
twenty galleons sailed in January 1599 to protect Porto Rico from the
English. In the maritime strife of Spain and England this expedition has
no part that remains memorable. For Champlain it meant a first command
at sea and a first glimpse of America.

The record of this voyage was an incident of no less importance in
Champlain's fortunes than the voyage itself. His cruisings in the
Spanish Main gave him material for a little book, the Bref Discours;
and the Bref Discours in turn advanced his career. Apart from any effect
which it may have had in securing for him the title of Geographer to the
King, it shows his own aspiration to be a geographer. Navigation can be
regarded either as a science or a trade. For Champlain it was plainly
a science, demanding care in observation and faithfulness of narrative.
The Bref Discours was written immediately upon his return from the
West Indies, while the events it describes were still fresh in mind.
Appearing at a time when colonial secrets were carefully guarded, it
gave France a glimpse of Spanish America from French eyes. For us it
preserves Champlain's impressions of Mexico, Panama, and the Antilles.
For Champlain himself it was a profession of faith, a statement that he
had entered upon the honourable occupation of navigator; in other words,
that he was to be classed neither with ship-captains no